Study guides / Revision
How to space your study sessions before an exam
When you have several days before an exam, use more than one encounter with the material. A short recall attempt on a later day shows you what survived after the first session.
Put review on the calendar early
List the topics and the exam date. Give each important topic an initial session and at least one later review. Avoid using all your available time to perfect the first set of notes. The exact intervals can fit your calendar; there is no universal “day 1, day 3, day 7” rule that suits every course and deadline.
Monday: learn topic A and write five questions.
Wednesday: answer A’s questions without notes; learn topic B.
Friday: review missed answers from A and B.
Sunday: do a mixed practice check, then revisit the weakest parts.
This is a planning example, not a proven optimal schedule. The evidence supports spreading practice over time, while the best timing depends on the material and how long you need to remember it. Dunlosky and colleagues’ review rated distributed practice and practice testing highly across learning materials and student groups.
Start each review with recall
Before rereading, try a few questions, a blank diagram or a short explanation from memory. Then check the source and correct errors. A 2024 systematic review in health professions education found benefits in many studies of distributed and retrieval practice, though results and study designs varied. That is a reason to use the methods thoughtfully, not a promise of a particular grade.
Let mistakes change the next session
If you answer a topic easily twice, spend less of the next session on it. If you repeatedly miss the same idea, return to the source and use a different question or example. For a course with problem solving, spend time solving problems, not only recalling definitions. For a diagram-heavy course, redraw and label a blank version.
Keep your plan small enough to follow. If you miss a scheduled review, do the recall check at the next opportunity. There is no benefit in abandoning the whole plan because one day slipped.
Build the questions from your materials
Use headings, learning objectives, past mistakes and worked examples. Studying from a PDF shows how to turn a reading into questions; the flashcard guide helps make those questions precise.